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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23796349">Deep Magic</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dathen/pseuds/Dathen'>Dathen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dathen's Aspec Martin Prompt Fills [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Magnus Archives (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Internalized Arophobia, M/M, Slight claustrophobia, fairy tale AU, gray-aro Martin, no series spoilers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:06:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>755</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23796349</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dathen/pseuds/Dathen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A curse demands true love’s kiss to spare Jon’s life; what if what Martin has to offer isn’t enough?  </p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Fairy Tale AU, no series spoilers.  Written for Prompt 4 of Aspec Martin Blackwood Week:  Alternate Universe.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dathen's Aspec Martin Prompt Fills [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1710181</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>219</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Aspec Martin Blackwood Week</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Deep Magic</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>many thanks to smallhorizons for the beta!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Martin didn’t know how things came to this.  Deep in the heart of the Watcher’s Wood, its thorny canopy choking the sunlight above, its brambles snaking round his feet below.  </p>
<p>And before him, Jon, engulfed in the tree at its center, gasping for breath as he struggled in vain.  He stared up at Martin with eyes wide with hope and agony.</p>
<p>“I don’t know if.  I don’t know if it will <em> work</em>.”  Martin fought and failed to keep his voice steady.  Jon was fading, Jon <em> needed </em>him, but a hundred long-buried fears welled up, flooding his lungs like seawater.  The numbness pricking at his fingertips was starting to spread.</p>
<p>Why couldn’t this have been asked of him when he first set out to save Jon, heart tripping with yearning as much as fear?  Why couldn’t this have been asked of him when he first learned true love’s kiss would break the curse, and rose-tinted fantasies swirled in his mind?</p>
<p>(But between those moments were days long and sore, when his heart twisted in worry at the thought of Jon, but didn’t race at the thought of his lips.)</p>
<p>(Could a love like that be called true?)</p>
<p>Jon let out a wheeze that was likely meant as a laugh.  Another tear ran down a well-worn track on his smudged cheek.  “C-course it will.  I’ve been--  I’ve--”  The rattling sound as he struggled to inhale made Martin’s stomach drop, guilt eating at him like acid.  “I’ve been waiting for you.  Just you,” he managed at last.</p>
<p>Martin pried uselessly at the branches pinning Jon in place, but the tree’s gnarled trunk only drew him deeper.  Only half of his face could now be seen in the twisted bark.  Martin sobbed.  “I’m sorry, I’m--”  He sniffed and dragged an arm over his face.  “It won’t be magic, Jon.  I don’t <em> feel </em> it, what I need to break the curse.  The, the l-love.”  Saying it felt like a death knell.  “I have!  I have felt it before--  Just <em> sometimes</em>, and I never know when I will, a-and I wish I could make it happen but I <em> can’t</em>—“</p>
<p>“Hey, h-hey--” Jon cut in, voice faint.  He struggled to twist his hand towards Martin.  Martin took it, and Jon smiled.  “It’s going to be enough.  It is enough for me, Martin.  <em> You’re </em> enough for me.  And--” he added, voice going sharp and testy, an echo of their first meeting, “what’s good enough for me should be good enough for any <em> curse</em>.”</p>
<p>Martin reached to brush his fingers over Jon’s cheek, where tears had left their muddy tracks over and over, and where they’d run forever if Martin failed.  If what he could find in his heart to offer didn’t satisfy the deep magic of this place. </p>
<p>“I’ll try,” he said, barely aloud, and then again, stronger-- “I’ll try.”  He couldn’t tell whose hands trembled more as he closed his over Jon’s and pressed his lips to the scratched knuckles.  Jon’s skin was cold, and Martin could taste the iron tang of blood on his lips as he lingered, soothing his thumbs over scars old and new.  Before Martin could summon the will to lean towards his mouth, Jon’s gasp rang out, sharp and loud and--</p>
<p>--And <em> free</em>.</p>
<p>The sound of the tree being unmade was like a gale uprooting a forest--the branches shrieked and groaned and howled, but under the deafening racket Martin had ears only for Jon’s breathless laugh as the gnarled wood peeled away.  Martin rushed to catch him before he could collapse.  Jon looked too weak to stand on his own, but the grip of his arms around Martin felt like they could crack a boulder.  </p>
<p>“I-I told you so,” Jon said against Martin’s ear, and Martin swallowed against his tears and laughed.</p>
<p>When the cursed tree was nothing but ash, Jon leaned back in Martin’s embrace to look up at him.  Martin saw his gaze dip down to Martin’s mouth, but Jon reached instead for Martin’s hand.</p>
<p>He drew it towards his lips.  “Is this alright?” Jon asked, breath feathering over his skin.  Martin nodded, speechless.  </p>
<p>The glow in his chest didn’t feel like an angel’s chorus or a draught of strong wine, but like a warm fireplace at a cold day’s end.  Maybe tomorrow that giddy urge to kiss Jon would return, or maybe next week, or next spring.  For the first time, he let himself imagine Jon would still be with him then.</p>
<p>“I love you too,” said Jon, and kissed his hand again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I've had ideas for "what if fairy tale tropes, but ace/aro?" swimming around in my head for years, and who better to start with than jonmartin?</p>
<p>Shout out to Over the Garden Wall and Tolkien for engraving spooky tree imagery deep in my soul.<br/>-<br/>Find me at @dathen on tumblr or @datheneth on twitter!  Comments are adored and appreciated, and I'd love to hear from you!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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